Feature Story
Local, Fresh & Delicious
Asparagus in the spring. Melons in the fall. Onions whenever. All season long you can find wonderful food to buy at the Walla Walla Valley Farmers' Market.
W hen beekeepers Susan and Paul Hosticka moved to Dayton from Washington's Kitsap Peninsula in early 2004, they brought along not only their bees and hives, but also their stock of blackberry honey.
"I started selling at the Walla Walla Farmers' Market that spring," she says. The blackberry honey was very popular, and I still have people ask for it." The problem is, says Susan, the blackberry honey came from "yards" on the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas, where blackberries provided the source for the Hostickas' bees to gather their nectar. At their new home, the bees needed new kinds of nectar.
The Hostickas, who operate Octopus Garden Honey, near Dayton, are now making Eastern Washington honey. "Our most popular honey variety comes from a plant that is fairly common around Dayton, which is yellow starthistle," says Susan. Despite its reputation as a noxious weed, starthistle makes outstanding honey. "Don't worry, the bees don't propagate the plant," she assured us. Other popular Octopus Garden honey varieties are creamed black locust and Palouse wildflower. Susan sells much of her honey at the Walla Walla market.
"I sold honey at several farmers' markets in the west side," says Susan, "but I think the Walla Walla market is the best of them all." Susan can be found at the Walla Walla Valley Farmers Market each Saturday throughout the season.
Bud Locati and his family grow many varieties of crops on farmland they own on both sides of the state line in the Walla Walla Valley. Besides wheat, lima beans, seed peas and spinach, Locati grows large crops of Walla Walla and Washington sweet onions, as well as asparagus. During spring, Locati is a fixture at the Walla Walla Valley Farmers' Market, where he sells much of the family's asparagus crop and lots of onions as well. Locati usually runs out of asparagus sometime in June, but has onions available throughout the season.
"We started selling at the market right when it opened in 1996," says Bud. "We have a lot of great customers who buy our asparagus there on a regular basis." His asparagus must be good, because Locati says he sells it to most of the restaurants in the Walla Walla area (at least those who serve asparagus).
The Walla Walla Valley Farmers' Market opens its 14th season on May 2nd. It is held in the city hall parking lot at Main Street and Fourth Avenue in downtown Walla Walla and is open Saturday and Sunday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. According to Beth-Aimee McGuire, the market's executive director, the market has a capacity of 120 vendors, and often reaches that number during mid-season. "We'll have 50 or so vendors to start with," she says. "We try to have at least two-thirds of the vendors selling food, but the market offers many other products as well."
At the Farmers' Market, consumers can buy locally-grown food and other local products from the people who grew or made them. McGuire says that all products sold at the market must be produced by the people selling them. "The point is to give local producers a place to sell their wares. And even more importantly, consumers know that they are getting fresh, locally produced products and that they are supporting local producers."
The Walla Walla Farmers' Market was started in 1996 by the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation and was managed as part of its tourism division. In 2007 the market became an independent organization. Besides offering local food and products, live entertainment is also provided during many of the days the Farmers' Market operates.
Along with honey, asparagus and onions, a wide variety of other local food and produce can be found at the market, including eggs, fresh cheese, melons, berries and bread. The kinds of food change according to the season, of course, which is part of what's special about the market. Consumers also get a chance to meet and talk to the producers who grow or make the products they buy.
If knowing where your food came from and who grew it seems like a strange idea, think again. When people care enough to come to the market and tell you all about the food you'll soon be eating, there's a good chance they've put a lot of care into growing that food, too.